The present invention relates to recessed, ceiling-mounted wallwash light fixtures.
It is conventional to illuminate a vertical wall of a room by recess-mounting a wallwash light fixture in the ceiling at a predetermined distance from the wall. The fixture includes a reflector having an internal reflecting surface, a segment of which being oriented to reflect light toward the wall. That segment can comprise an external secondary reflector element mounted on the outside of the main reflector after a window has been cut therein (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,440). Alternatively, the secondary reflector element can be mounted on the inside of the main reflector (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,147). A shortcoming of conventional wallwash fixtures is that light is reflected off the secondary reflector element in a somewhat imprecise manner, whereby the wall is not uniformly illuminated, and/or stray light reflected from the secondary reflector element contacts an opposite side of the fixture interior. For example, as depicted in FIG. 12, a main reflector 5 has a hole cut therein, and a wallwash attachment 3 is applied across the outside of the hole light from a point of brightness on a lamp 1 reflects off a reflection point 2 of a secondary wallwash reflector 3 and then off an opposite side 4 of the main reflector 5 from which it is seen from below by a viewer 6. Such stray light causes unsightly brightness to the viewer 6.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a wallwash light fixture of the recessed, ceiling-mount type having a secondary reflector segment which reflects light in a highly precise manner toward the wall to be illuminated.